LETTER WRITING -- A FEW POINTS

All of us like to receive letters, but only a few of us
like to write them and send out to friends, relatives and acquaintances.
But why we dislike writing letters? The simple answer is that we
don/t know how to write good and meaningful letters. There are rare
examples which show people writing wonderful and interesting letters. We
all know that letters are forever. They are a great source of
inspiration, solace, good advice, news, views and play such a significant role in
our personal and social life. There cannot be any substitute for
letters. They have, virtually wings and their reach is far and wide to
every nook and corner of the globe. Actually it is a very good asset to
be able to write good and wonderful personal letters. Letter writing is a
two-way traffic which is full of pleasure, beauty and solace for both the
sender and the recipient. They are so effective and charming in their
effect as nothing else can take their place, not even your personal
visit. They represent us so adequately, beautifully and purposefully
as our personal ambassadors of goodwill, friendship and
intimacy.

But writing beautiful and relevant personal letters is not
difficult either. You have to just cultivate the habit with practice and
perseverance. We should never neglect replying letters and also
frequently write them to our near and dear ones. They bring us close
to one another and bridge distances. It is such an excellent way
to communication and expression. Therefore, everybody must
know how to write friendly, warm, intimate and personal letters. A letter
is a personal visit on paper. It is both an art and technique
and not difficult to achieve.

BE
YOURSELF

A letter should reflect your personality and its
charm. Therefore, be conversational and intimate. Write as if you
are talking with your friend. Never be formal, cold and
indifferent. The secret of good and successful personal letter writing is
that be always put yourself on the paper, be spontaneous and natural as far as
possible. Visualize the person to whom you are writing your
letter, think of his hobbies. Interests, likes and dislikes and of your
relation with him. Use everyday speech, be conversational warm and
personal.

BE
TIMELY

It is important what you write and how you write, but it is
also important when you write. Time is the essence of good letter
writing. Never delay replies and social obligations. Never
miss opportunities and occasions. Utilize them to your best
advantages. A belated letter of sympathy, solace, congratulations,
advice, thanks or regrets may spoil the beauty and wonder of the
whole exercise. Always write your letters in a positive frame of
mind. It is time and positiveness that make all the
difference.

REMEMBER
THE PURPOSE

Always keep in view the purpose of your writing. You
must know well why are you writing. What purpose is the letter going to
serve? You should be definite about your aim and object in
writing your letters. This identification of the purpose will
provide your letter writing a definite direction, motivation and a cutting
edge. You must also be well aware of the person to whom you are
writing. You must know what is your relation with the recipient
of the letter. Different people would demand different approach and
style of your writing. Such an identification would lend your letter the
required brevity, clarity and preciseness.

BE
BRIEF BUT COMPLETE

Brevity is said to be the soul of wit. It makes your
letter spicy and adds punch. If you want that
the recipient should read your letter in whole and enjoy it, then you
must certainly be short and exact. Brevity helps in achieving simplicity
and clarity. Simple, brief and crisp letters are always read with
interest, enthusiasm and eagerness and then cherished
long. These qualities make a letter natural relaxed and
sincere. In these days of hectic activity and
tight schedule, people don’t have time for lengthy and verbose and boring
letters. Therefore, be brief and to the point and avoid repetitions and
non-essentials. Be economical with the use of your words and save
time. But it never means that you should not be complete. Brevity
is never desirable at the cost of completeness. Be
complete but at the same time be clear, slim and to the point.

Be natural, easy and use short sentences and simple
words. Always keep in mind to whom you are writing and
what is your purpose of writing. Short, simple, logical and relaxed
writing has its own charm and attraction. Short simple sentences and
matching short and logical paragraphs would make your letters charming and
beautiful. Use right punctuation marks at right places. It is wiser
to underpunctuate than overpunctuate. Right punctuation a
good means to make your letters simple, easy, brief, intelligible and
functional. Don’t write the way others do in dull, routine
and prosaic manner. Let your personality be there,
but avoid being self-conscious.

In writing your personal letters your guiding principle
should be, ‘write as you speak.’ Avoid such expressions, terms and
phrase which you would never use in your conversation with a
friend. The rubber stamp words, phrases and expressions are to be
always avoided. It has an established fact that hackneyed terms, words
and phrases ruin most of our correspondence. Let your language
be simple, spontaneous, easy, natural and flowing. Be brief and direct in
your communication and message. Given below is a list of some words,
phrases, terms and expressions which should be avoided in writing your
letters. Against these are given alternative words, phrases and
expressions which you can always use and rely upon:

INSTEAD
OF THIS USE THIS

Will
you be kind enough to ---please

At
this point of time--- now

Along
the lines of---- like

Consensus
of opinion---consensus

During
the course of---- during

Inasmuch
as----since

Few
in number--few

At
all times---always

At
your earliest--soon

Awaiting
your esteemed instructions---we wait for

Due
to the fact---because

I
have pleasure in informing you-----I am pleased to

We
wish to thank you-----we thank you

We
extend our apologies-----we apologies

Thanking
you----thank you

On
a practical basis-----practically

Until
such time as----until

Take
into consideration-----consider

The
undersigned/ the writer------I / me

At
a time when-----when

With
the exception of----- except

On
a weekly basis------------weekly

Personal
in attitude------------personal

In
the event of if--------------, in case

Under
separate cover-------------separately

In
the great majority of cases--------------in most cases

In
spite of the fact that------------in spite of

However, there cannot be any hard and fast rule in this
matter and you should be your own judge in selecting your words,
phrase and vocabulary. Your aim should always be to achieve simplicity,
clarity, brevity, completeness and economy of words and
expressions—use only such means as to make your correspondence efficient,
suggestive, imaginative and beautiful. Make your writing crisp, spicy,
vibrant, expressive and exact by using short and simple sentences as far as
possible. The use of long sentences with skill and efficiency is not
possible for all of us.

POLITENESS
PAYS

Politeness is a great human virtue. It pays and
costs nothing. It is the hallmark of successful, and wonderful personal
letters. It reflects good manners and good breeding. Your letters
are your personal visit on paper. They are your ambassadors, and so they
have to be ever polite, courteous, sweet and pleasing. You should always
aim at civility in your correspondence. You have to be
effective and meaningful and also polite at the same time. Even
unpleasant things should be told in a pleasant and polite
manner. Manners make a gentleman. Courtesy has a ripple
effect and so in its turn begets courtesy. You must put yourself in the
shoes of the recipient of the letter and only then write your letters.
Even in complaints, you must be civil courteous, warm, personal, persuasive and
sympathetic.

NEVER
WRITE ANYTHING WHICH YOU MAY REGRET LATER

It is a very sound principle and policy not to write
anything which you may have to repent and regret later. Therefore, you
should be careful about the content and style of your letter so as not to
offend and displease the recipient. Let there be no thoughtless and
careless remarks, comments, observations and reactions. What you have
once written cannot be retraced and retrieved. It becomes a permanent
thing with the recipient in black and white. It might have been
there because of a slip of mind. You might have made an unpleasant remark
just in jest or you might have really not meant it as it appears
to the reader. But these are lame excuses and would not serve your
purpose. You would not be there with the recipient to explain your
position and viewpoint. It is a very sound and perfect advice, “think
before you leap.” Therefore think well and twice before you put
it on the paper. Never write anything which may be misunderstood
and misinterpreted as rude, impolite, uncivil, ill-mannered
and unkind. After having drafted your letter, rewrite it and see
that everything is in order as it should have been.

PLAN
YOUR LETTERS WELL

You should plan your letter and write them in a relaxed and
positive mood of mind. Never be in haste,
because haste makes waste and spoils the whole exercise of writing a
personal letter. Your letters need to be properly visualized organized
and planned. These steps ensure that your correspondence is good,
successful, full of meaning and purpose. Planning means that you have
taken some trouble before putting your thoughts, ideas, views and
reactions on a piece of paper. It means that you are not casual in your
approach and attitude in writing. To convey your message effectively
across to the reader, you should plan your letters. It will give your
writing a good foundation and consequently there would not be any
redundant expressions, careless remarks, casual
observation, vague language and platitudes. Letter
should never be written in a bad mood and negative state of mind.
You may jot down the points on a piece of paper and later use them to elaborate
your ideas and views in a logical, convincing and persuasive
way. Planning also ensures accuracy, exactness and brevity. It
would go a long way to help you identify your purpose of writing your personal
letters.

THE BASIC PARTS OF A LETTER

A personal letter represents you in a way that nothing else
can do. It is an organic whole with its different parts well defined and
standardized. A good and purposeful letter is always well-proportioned,
balanced and symmetrical, its inner spirit and meaning should be well reflected
in its make-up and physical appearance. A well made up and
organized letter consists of the following basic parts: